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Mar. 29th, 2004
Rats, Gardens, and Warmth
Mar. 29th, 2004 04:59 pmTook the babies in to the vet today - Sweetie's been sneezing, and I guess has one of those very-common bronchial infections. The vet gave me some antibiotics (man, does she ever *scream* when I give them to her) and a bunch of really sensible and cost-effective advice on being nice to her lungs in the future so that even with this possibly-chronic infection she'll be in good shape.
I met a small dog at the vet with a spotted eye that had white, brown, and blue in it. It was a very friendly dog, and revised my opinion entirely of small dogs. I think I could own one now someday.
The Juggler helped me get going on double-digging the back garden the other day, which was really nice. There were enormous chunks of concrete in it, but now it's a really good bed, or the part we dug is at least. There's a patch with lots of small gravel that irritates me (I might put potatoes in straw on top of the turf, and just not dig it this year).
I came back from the grafting class at VanDusen with a very small York Imperial apple on M9 rootstock, so it'll be a very small tree (if the graft takes). Grafting is hard and requires lots of skill, unlike bonsai which to my knowledge just requires aesthetic appreciation.
Mom and the brother are leaving for Japan the day after tomorrow, where they'll be for four months. I'm going over there tonight with the babies, to visit them, and then heading out to work tomorrow from there. I sort of need a baby diaper bag, with clean bedding, food, antibiotics... I definitely feel like a mom.
The vet's was expensive, on the same note (well, not really, but it was an unanticipated cost on top of an impulse buy). I realise I like to feel slightly stressed about doing things to help people, to stretch myself slightly to help people. I've been doing that in my relationships and it ends up getting taken for granted a lot, so maybe I can do it instead with my rats and know they'll live safely and happily, and not direct it where it isn't making me happy.
On a related note, we had our scheduling talk on Sunday. We're off the two-day-per-week thing, where I'd go over there two days a week, and back onto an ad-hoc just-ask sort of system. We've decided that having another place to ask people to (so we don't have to coordinate a switch, and can just coordinate a date) is important. I'm scared, because I've discovered that time *alone* with people is important to me, and to my relationships' health. That's a rare commodity nowadays, though perhaps it'll be less so with another sleeping area in my apartment so I can ask people here rather than having to arrange that switch.
It's really warm today -- I'm in shorts and a t-shirt with all the windows open, and it's nice. This apartment is going to be brutally hot in the summer, I think.
I've still got to put together my VanDusen presentation for Thursday, which I think I'll do tomorrow (bah!) or Wednesday. It's only a ten-minute presentation, but the area I can do it in is limited. I need to get into the garden and think.
After that the classroom part of guide trainign is over, and VanDusen switches to Tuesdays 1-4pm for me. That frees up some more of my time -- I'm going to take on the Horticultural Zone Coordinator hat for VanDusen's Garden Show, which is intermittent kind of business, after that.
Still taking the occasional VanDusen couse - a fruit-growing one's comin gup this weekend, I think, and there's an organic veggie one in a bit.
I'm also considering a birth control switch to a non-hormonal method. That might be something I go in to consult with a doctor on tomorrow, as well. Everything has sucky side effects, it seems, but I think I'm willing to risk some physical ones in exchange for the mental distress I'm getting right now.
I think that about sums it up. Take care, and I'll post pictures of the rats eventually. :) Their names are, if I haven't said already, Sweetie and Small Rat. Not my fault, they maned themselves. Birthday Feb. 11th. Sweetie weighs 90 grams right now, and Small Rat just a touch more I think.
I met a small dog at the vet with a spotted eye that had white, brown, and blue in it. It was a very friendly dog, and revised my opinion entirely of small dogs. I think I could own one now someday.
The Juggler helped me get going on double-digging the back garden the other day, which was really nice. There were enormous chunks of concrete in it, but now it's a really good bed, or the part we dug is at least. There's a patch with lots of small gravel that irritates me (I might put potatoes in straw on top of the turf, and just not dig it this year).
I came back from the grafting class at VanDusen with a very small York Imperial apple on M9 rootstock, so it'll be a very small tree (if the graft takes). Grafting is hard and requires lots of skill, unlike bonsai which to my knowledge just requires aesthetic appreciation.
Mom and the brother are leaving for Japan the day after tomorrow, where they'll be for four months. I'm going over there tonight with the babies, to visit them, and then heading out to work tomorrow from there. I sort of need a baby diaper bag, with clean bedding, food, antibiotics... I definitely feel like a mom.
The vet's was expensive, on the same note (well, not really, but it was an unanticipated cost on top of an impulse buy). I realise I like to feel slightly stressed about doing things to help people, to stretch myself slightly to help people. I've been doing that in my relationships and it ends up getting taken for granted a lot, so maybe I can do it instead with my rats and know they'll live safely and happily, and not direct it where it isn't making me happy.
On a related note, we had our scheduling talk on Sunday. We're off the two-day-per-week thing, where I'd go over there two days a week, and back onto an ad-hoc just-ask sort of system. We've decided that having another place to ask people to (so we don't have to coordinate a switch, and can just coordinate a date) is important. I'm scared, because I've discovered that time *alone* with people is important to me, and to my relationships' health. That's a rare commodity nowadays, though perhaps it'll be less so with another sleeping area in my apartment so I can ask people here rather than having to arrange that switch.
It's really warm today -- I'm in shorts and a t-shirt with all the windows open, and it's nice. This apartment is going to be brutally hot in the summer, I think.
I've still got to put together my VanDusen presentation for Thursday, which I think I'll do tomorrow (bah!) or Wednesday. It's only a ten-minute presentation, but the area I can do it in is limited. I need to get into the garden and think.
After that the classroom part of guide trainign is over, and VanDusen switches to Tuesdays 1-4pm for me. That frees up some more of my time -- I'm going to take on the Horticultural Zone Coordinator hat for VanDusen's Garden Show, which is intermittent kind of business, after that.
Still taking the occasional VanDusen couse - a fruit-growing one's comin gup this weekend, I think, and there's an organic veggie one in a bit.
I'm also considering a birth control switch to a non-hormonal method. That might be something I go in to consult with a doctor on tomorrow, as well. Everything has sucky side effects, it seems, but I think I'm willing to risk some physical ones in exchange for the mental distress I'm getting right now.
I think that about sums it up. Take care, and I'll post pictures of the rats eventually. :) Their names are, if I haven't said already, Sweetie and Small Rat. Not my fault, they maned themselves. Birthday Feb. 11th. Sweetie weighs 90 grams right now, and Small Rat just a touch more I think.
There it is!
Mar. 29th, 2004 06:18 pmIt's summer. Summer is when I get intense feelings of homecoming, of being in a place that I belong. And there it is, summer. It doesn't, unfortunately, apply to relationship stuff -- but my own internal sense of myself is happier.
Tidying LJ
Mar. 29th, 2004 08:01 pmAdded a bunch of interests, joined a couple of interesting-looking communities.
*sigh*
I'm having one of those nights -- polypagangirl knows about these nights. It's the night after watching a deeply romantic movie, while Unchained Melody, Sound of Silence, Stand By Me, One, and Friend of Mine all come up on the list spontaneously, one SO is at work and the two others are out on their wedding anniversary, my family is leaving the country for four months soon (though I do see them tonight), and I just want someone to *share* stuff with. Space, cuddling, life, thoughts, whatever, I just want to share it.
I probably harp on this constantly, but I don't understand how I can have three serious relationships and spend so many evenings, and to a lesser extent so many days, alone. I mean, I understand the people-who-work-9-to-5 thing. The rest of it? Bah.
Let's see if the SO going onto a more regular schedule, and the scheduling discussion yesterday, maybe helps change that. I realise that it won't, all the way, because of everyone's philosophy on alone time/together time with each other apart from me.
You know, I totally don't remember feeling different than this back in monogamy-land, but you'd think two people who live together... naah. I guess you wouldn't think it.
*mutter*
*sigh*
I'm having one of those nights -- polypagangirl knows about these nights. It's the night after watching a deeply romantic movie, while Unchained Melody, Sound of Silence, Stand By Me, One, and Friend of Mine all come up on the list spontaneously, one SO is at work and the two others are out on their wedding anniversary, my family is leaving the country for four months soon (though I do see them tonight), and I just want someone to *share* stuff with. Space, cuddling, life, thoughts, whatever, I just want to share it.
I probably harp on this constantly, but I don't understand how I can have three serious relationships and spend so many evenings, and to a lesser extent so many days, alone. I mean, I understand the people-who-work-9-to-5 thing. The rest of it? Bah.
Let's see if the SO going onto a more regular schedule, and the scheduling discussion yesterday, maybe helps change that. I realise that it won't, all the way, because of everyone's philosophy on alone time/together time with each other apart from me.
You know, I totally don't remember feeling different than this back in monogamy-land, but you'd think two people who live together... naah. I guess you wouldn't think it.
*mutter*
Thankfulness.
Mar. 29th, 2004 08:46 pmCrossposted to _thankyou_, a community which I needed to see.
1) I'm grateful to have stumbled across the community tonight when I needed to remember all the things that are so wonderful in my life, and
2) I'm grateful for my new baby rats, and that they forgive me when I shove icky bitter antibiotics down their throats, and
3) I'm grateful for the warm day that I had off work so I could nap, and
4) I'm grateful for the cool-but-not-too-cold breeze coming in through my apartment window right now, cooling everything off *right before* it got too hot, and
5) I'm grateful for my family, and for the last chance to see the biological bits of it before it leaves for awhile to follow up some cool opportunities overseas, and that thge biological bits of it are so understanding of me.
1) I'm grateful to have stumbled across the community tonight when I needed to remember all the things that are so wonderful in my life, and
2) I'm grateful for my new baby rats, and that they forgive me when I shove icky bitter antibiotics down their throats, and
3) I'm grateful for the warm day that I had off work so I could nap, and
4) I'm grateful for the cool-but-not-too-cold breeze coming in through my apartment window right now, cooling everything off *right before* it got too hot, and
5) I'm grateful for my family, and for the last chance to see the biological bits of it before it leaves for awhile to follow up some cool opportunities overseas, and that thge biological bits of it are so understanding of me.